Council To Review Dedication Procedure

Criticism Follows Posthumous Tributes

Bowing to public criticism, the city council will reconsider its procedure for naming public property in someone's honor.

Under the proposed change to be taken up at tonight's meeting, a public hearing would be held before the property could be named.

In recent weeks, the council has been criticized for dedicating a South End intersection and a Frog Hollow recreation center without public comment.

``You have no idea how much heat I took,'' said Councilwoman Frances Sanchez, who backed naming a new recreation center in Pope Park after a local man killed in a drive-by shooting.

In response, Sanchez is asking the council to amend the municipal code to require that a public hearing be held before a full council vote is taken.

``There's not much we can do about the past cases, but we have to take some action for the future,'' Sanchez said. ``We have to let people know -- they should have some input.''

Council Majority Leader John B. O'Connell said he would likely support Sanchez's proposal, though he called the issue ``overkill.'' O'Connell noted that council agendas are published in advance and people already can comment if they show up at meetings.

``If the council has time to take this up, I guess we're in good shape,'' O'Connell said.

O'Connell sponsored the resolution to name a South End traffic circle after martyred Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands. Some neighbors protested the decision after the fact, saying public property should be named only after American servicemen.

``The circle's been there for 100 years,'' O'Connell said, and nobody wanted to name it. ``And now, all of a sudden, it's a big problem.''

Sanchez and Deputy Mayor Eugenio A. Caro Sr. sponsored the resolution to name the recreation center after Samuel Vincente Arroyo, who was killed in 1993 and was considered a role model.

After the vote, the community group Hartford Areas Rally Together said the center's name should not favor any individual or family.

O'Connell said he would oppose any movement to change the previous votes. Some community members have called for such action.